1. READING MEDIA LANGUAGE Visual signs can communicate meaning.signs Signification is to do with the ways things act as signs. SignsSigns are composed of two parts What we can see - the signifier-signifier The meaning we take from it- the signified- signified

2. We understand visual signs in the same way that we understand words.signs Although each of these signifiers is different the signified is the same - “direction.”signifierssignified

3. TYPES OF SIGNS iconic iconic The iconic sign.iconic sign This is a sign which resembles what it signifies. resembles a crossroads.e.g. resembles a set of traffic lights. and

4. The arbitrary or conventional sign.arbitrary This type of sign only signifies something because we all agree that it does. All words are arbitrary signs.arbitrary Dog Ci Chien do not resemble Hund in no way resembles a roundabout.

5. The symbolic sign, or symbol. This is a sign which is a mixture of iconic and conventional. We call it symbolic because it signifies much more than its iconic significance.iconic e.g. are symbolicand whereas is iconic.iconic

6. The indexical sign.indexical This is a sign that has a close link with what it signifies, but the link is not one of resemblance because what an indexical sign signifies is usually invisible.indexical e.g are an index of time. and expressions are an index of feeling.